Temple Israel exists to help its congregants and the surrounding community find greater meaning in life and to build community. Our twice-daily services as well as Shabbat and Holiday worship involve wide participation from our members. Under the leadership of Rabbi Panitz, Temple Israel welcomes and seeks to empower ever richer spiritual life.

While we are a Conservative synagogue, we recognize that many non-Jewish spouses or relatives seek to have a meaningful part in life cycle celebrations and in holiday events. We always welcome anyone interested in Judaism to attend events at Temple Israel. We seek to find appropriate ways to help them take part. For example, a non-Jewish parent of a bar or bat mitzvah child is welcome to ascend the bima with the Jewish parent and to offer words of praise and encouragement to the child as part of a tallit presentation. The non-Jewish spouse may stand on the bima with the Jewish partner who is having an aliyah. In most celebrations there are some elements that are not distinctively Jewish–a prayer for our country or a prayer for peace, for example, on Shabbat are entirely appropriate for anyone to lead.